Team Canada 1972 launches new website on Summit Series anniversary Online presence released one month before reunion for new legacy project

Team Canada 1972 has launched its new online presence on the anniversary of Game One of hockey’s historic “Summit Series.”

Launched in the evening of September 2nd, TeamCanada1972.ca comes exactly 42 years after the first puck was dropped in the eight-game series against the Soviet national team.

Throughout September, TeamCanada1972.ca will revisit the Summit Series with original content and analysis, honouring milestones and events.

The new website – joined by Facebook and Twitter pages – are the first components of the team’s new national legacy campaign, the “28,800 Project” (coined after the total number of seconds played in the series). The legacy venture involves returning the story of Team Canada 1972’s legendary comeback victory to the country’s national dialogue and enshrine its intrinsic lessons of teamwork for all Canadians.

As part of Upper Deck’s Heroic Inspirations campaign, Harding will be featured on a collectible trading card he autographed and inscribed for charitable purposes

Josh Harding is a goalie for the Minnesota Wild® who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in November, 2012. In his first game back post-diagnosis, Harding faced the Dallas Stars™ and stopped all 24 shots for a 1-0 shootout win. Harding was awarded the 2012-2013 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. With that, he became an inspiration for the MS community and hockey fans everywhere. To pay tribute to Harding’s courage in the face of such adversity, Upper Deck has created a “Heroic Inspirations” trading card that Harding has autographed and inscribed.

The goal of the card is to give people suffering from MS hope and to raise awareness for Josh Harding’s charity; Harding’s Hope (www.hardingshope.org). To start the campaign, Upper Deck has inserted 25 of the cards into packs of the 2014-15 NHL® O-Pee-Chee series. Harding included his signature and an inscription on these cards, “My inspiration is my father.” Harding has signed and inscribed other versions of the card with some of his other inspirations. These additional autographed and inscribed cards will be available with a donation to the charity through the Harding’s Hope website at the start of the 2014-15 NHL® season.

“I’m excited for Upper Deck to join my team to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis and to raise funds for people living with MS,” said Josh Harding. “The more I learn about MS, the more I realize how important it is to have a team. The point of adding inscriptions to the cards is to share that you cannot fight MS alone, you need to look for inspiration from your team. I’m hopeful that by sharing some of my inspirations on these new Upper Deck cards, I can help others stay positive and find inspiration.”

“Not only is Josh Harding an incredible player, he has transcended the game by performing at a high level while being challenged by symptoms of the disease,” said Jason Masherah, president of Upper Deck. “Harding serves as an inspiration and people marvel at his accomplishments. We hope that hockey fans and fans of Josh’s story will want to collect his autographed and inscribed ‘Heroic Inspirations’ cards. He truly is an inspiration who has an incredible story of courage, hope and perseverance to share.”

Upper Deck has produced other “Heroic Inspirations” cards in the past for other inspirational athletes. Harding’s card is the first in the series that features an autograph from the athlete and an inscription. Upper Deck’s 2014-15 NHL® O-Pee-Chee arrives in hobby and retail stores today!

About Harding’s Hope

Harding’s Hope is a nonprofit founded by Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding, 2013 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy Winner. Harding’s Hope is raising awareness about multiple sclerosis (MS) and raising funds to support people living with MS. Josh Harding founded Harding’s Hope because he was thankful for the support he received from family, friends, medical staff, and the hockey community after his MS diagnosis. Harding quickly recognized that not everyone living with MS has a team supporting them, and that many people are faced with making a choice between paying for MS treatment or meeting day-to-day expenses. Harding’s Hope is not funding MS research. Harding’s Hope is focused on supporting individuals and families living with MS who are struggling with the costs of treating the disease.

We here at The SDC Blogs do our best to keep you entertained and informed - about recent happenings, of new products we think you should try out, opinions, and whatever else we think you should know. If you can spare them, toss a few coins in our guitar case, or buy us a drink, if you think we accomplished any of those goals.

Contact Me

If you'd be interested in having me write something for you, want to make a suggestion about a topic you would like for me to write about or a product to review, are interested in exchanging large, gold-coin filled burlap sacks with dollar-signs branded on them for my writing service, or just want to get in touch, feel free to drop me a line at: davecunning09@shaw.ca
Wanna contribute a guest blog post column? Email me and we'll talk.